NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - On the heels of a previous
report that debunked the notion that a man's shoe size could be
used to estimate the length of his penis, a new study now claims
that those with inquiring minds need merely take a gander at a
man's forefinger.

According to Greek scientists, the
length of a man's index finger can accurately predict the length
of his penis. The findings are published in the September issue
of the journal Urology.

Dr. Evangelos Spyropoulos and colleagues
from the Naval and Veterans Hospital of Athens, Greece say they
conducted their investigation to gather more information on the
relationship between body measurements and male genitalia size.
They argue that such information--as well as a clearer definition
of "normal penile size"--will help doctors counsel and treat the
many men who are concerned about perceived inadequacies relating
to their genitals.

The "lack of standardized metric data
and the absence of widely acceptable criteria on the proper size
of the external genitalia poses major difficulties in the counseling
and/or treatment of young adult men with worries of sexual inadequacy,"
the authors write.

In their study, Spyropoulos and colleagues
measured penile length and testicular volume in 52 healthy young
males between the ages of 19 and 38 and compared them with other
body measurements including height, weight, body mass index, index
finger length and waist/hip ratio.

In lieu of measuring a man's erect
penis, the team measured the flaccid, gently stretched penis,
which they note is statistically correlated to erect penis length.

"Age and (body measurements) were
not associated with the size of the genitalia, excluding the index
finger length, which correlated significantly with the dimensions
of the flaccid, maximally stretched, penis," the report indicates.

"We realize that the study population
was relatively inadequate and suggest that a greater scale study
with a significantly larger number of subjects is needed to confirm
the observations, particularly the demonstrated trend of penile
length with index finger length," Spyropoulos and colleagues conclude.